The Boo Hag and the Plat-eye
An artist’s rendering of a Boo Hag
Us Gullah Geechee folks call malevolent spirits ‘haints,’ and our two most infamous are the boo hag and the plat-eye.
Boo hags are skinless witches who enter houses through windows, holes, cracks, or crevices. Once inside, they ride their sleeping victims and feed on their breath, causing them to feel exhausted or ‘hag-ridden’ the next morning. According to some versions, the person will have their skin stolen by the boo hag if they awaken or fight back during the attack, and the creature has been historically blamed for the experience of sleep paralysis.
Ways to get rid of a boo hag include sprinkling salt and/or placing a straw broom near one’s bed or front door. The idea is that the boo hag can’t resist counting the straw strands and salt grains and will become occupied until sunlight. If boo hags do not get back into their stolen skin before the sun comes up, they die.
A common saying among the Gullah, especially in South Carolina, is “Don’t let de hag ride ya.”
The plat-eye (plate-eye) is a shape-shifting creature with glowing eyes “as big as plates,” hence the name. Tales of the plat-eye are common among Gullah communities in Georgia and South Carolina, and they are also found in West Indian folklore. It is said that they are the spirits of those who were either buried improperly or died in an unjust manner.
Plat-eye lore became more prevalent after the Civil War, when slave owners were rumored to bury their fortunes deep in the woods or out in the swamps to hide it from the Union Army. Legend dictates that they would sometimes behead an enslaved person and bury them along with the treasure, resulting in their restless spirit acting as a guardian. In some instances, the plat-eye is used as a sort of boogeyman, to warn children about wandering in the woods. They are repelled by strong odors, and Gullah Geechee people traditionally ward them off by wearing satchels filled with gunpowder and sulfur.
Both boo hags and plat-eyes can be held at bay with haint blue, one of the various shades of the color that is derived from the dye of indigo plants. The blue is said to mimic the color of the sky or of water, which spirits cannot cross. Blue bottle trees can also be found in many yards in the Lowcountry and throughout the Gullah Geechee Corridor. The bottles trap haints, holding them captive until they are destroyed by sunlight.
